Bible Commentaries

Habakkuk 2:14 — Verse Habakkuk 2:14. For the earth shall be filled — This is a singular and important verse. It may be first applied to Babylon. God's power and providence shall be widely displayed in the destruction of this city and empire, in the humiliation of Nebuchadnezzar,

Habakkuk 3:4 — Verse 4. He had horns coming out of his hand — קרנים karnayim, rays. His hand - his power - was manifested in a particular place, by the sudden issuing out of pencils of rays, which diverged in coruscations of light, so as to illuminate the whole hemisphere.

Matthew 12:18 — Verse Matthew 12:18. Behold my servant — This title was given to our blessed Lord in several prophecies. See Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 53:2. Christ assumes it, Psalms 40:7-9. Compare these with John 17:4, and Philippians 2:7. God required an acceptable and perfect service from man; but man, being sinful, could not perform it. Jesus, taking upon him the nature of man, fully

Matthew 13:58 — Verse Matthew 13:58. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief — δυναμεις, miracles. So the word is used, Matthew 7:22; Matthew 11:20; Acts 19:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Galatians 3:5; Hebrews 2:4. The Septuagint translates נפלאות אל niphleoth el, the miraculous works of God, by δυναμιν κυριε.Unbelief and contempt drive Christ out of the heart, as they did out of his own country. Faith seems to put the almighty power of God into the hands of

Matthew 14:23 — Verse Matthew 14:23. He went up into a mountain apart, to pray — He whom God has employed in a work of mercy had need to return, by prayer, as speedily, to his Maker, as he can, lest he should be tempted to value himself on account of that in which he has no merit-for

Matthew 18:25 — mite out of the talent.Commanded him to be sold - his wife - children, c.] Our Lord here alludes to an ancient custom among the Hebrews, of selling a man and his family to make payment of contracted debts. See Exodus 22:3 Leviticus 25:30; Leviticus 25:47; 2 Kings 4:1. This custom passed from among the Jews to the Greeks and Romans. I have already remarked (see Genesis 47:19) that in the Burman empire the sale of whole families, to discharge debts, is very common.

Matthew 19:27 — their bread by; and such an all as was quite sufficient for that purpose: and let it be observed, that that man forsakes much who reserves nothing to himself, and renounces all expectations from this world, taking God alone for his portion. See Matthew 4:20.To forsake all, without following Christ, is the virtue of a philosopher. To follow Christ in profession, without forsaking all, is the state of the generality of Christians. But to follow Christ and forsake all, is the perfection of a Christian.What

Matthew 2:16 — FILIUM. "When he heard that among those male infants about two years old, which Herod, the king of the Jews, ordered to be slain in Syria, one of his sons was also murdered, he said: 'It is better to be Herod's HOG than his SON.'" Saturn. lib. ii. c. 4. The point of this saying consists in this, that Herod, professing Judaism, his religion forbade his killing swine, or having any thing to do with their flesh; therefore his hog would have been safe, where his son lost his life.

Mark 5:4 — Verse Mark 5:4. With fetters and chains — His strength, it appears was supernatural, no kind of chains being strong enough to confine him. With several, this man would have passed for an outrageous madman, and diabolic influence be entirely left out of the question;

Luke 1:13 — prayer while offered on earth, but follow it all its way to the throne of grace, and stay with it before the throne till dismissed with its answer to the waiting soul.Thou shalt call his name John. — For the proper exposition of this name, Mark 1:4.

Luke 1:60 — always be written Jehochanan or Yehochanan, יהוחנן the grace or mercy of Jehovah: so named, because he was to go before and proclaim the God of all grace, and the mercy granted through him to a lost world. See John 1:29; see also Luke 3:16, and Mark 1:4.

Luke 21:36 — That is, the tribulations which are on their way to overwhelm and destroy the Jewish people. These are sufficiently stated in the preceding verses.To stand before the Son of man. — To be acquitted, and to be condemned, are expressed, in Romans 14:4, by standing and falling. Those who were faithful to the grace they had received were not only not destroyed in the destruction of Jerusalem, but became heralds of the grace and mercy of God to the nations. Thus they were counted worthy to stand before

Luke 6:15 — religion than the rest of their neighbours; but like many other sects and parties who have begun well, they transferred their zeal for the essentials of religion to nonessential things, and from these to inquisitorial cruelty and murder. See on Matthew 10:4.

Luke 8:1 — CHAPTER VIII. Jesus preaches through every city and village, 1. Women minister to him, 2, 3. Instructs the multitudes by the parable of the sower, 4-8. Explains it at large to his disciples, 9-15. Directions how to improve by hearing the Gospel, 16-18. His mother and brethren seek him, 19-21. He and his disciples go upon the lake, and are taken in a storm, 22-25. They arrive among the Gadarenes,

Luke 8:23 — Verse Luke 8:23. There came down a storm of wind - and they - were in jeopardy. — This is a parallel passage to that in John 1:4. There was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken: the latter clause of which is thus translated by the Septuagint: και το πλοιον εκινδυνευε του συντριβηναι, And the ship was in the utmost danger of being dashed to pieces.

Luke 9:16 — hear with sedate and humble reverence.2. He should first take the bread of life himself, that he may be strengthened to feed others.3. He ought frequently to lift his soul to God, in order to draw down the Divine blessing on himself and his hearers.4. He should break the loaves - divide rightly the word of truth, and give to all such portions as are suited to their capacities and states.5. What he cannot perform himself, he should endeavour to effect by the ministry of others; employing every promising

John 14:2 — Verse John 14:2. In my Fathers house, c.] The kingdom of glory.Many mansions — Though I have said before that whither I am going ye cannot come now, yet do not think that we shall be for ever separated. I am going to that state of glory where there is not only

John 15:25 — Verse John 15:25. Written in their law — John 10:34. These words are taken from Psalms 69:4. This psalm is applied to Christ, John 2:17; John 19:28; to the vengeance of God against Judea, Acts 1:20. The psalm seems entirely prophetic of Christ. His deep abasement is referred to, Psalms 69:2-5; his prayer

John 6:56 — changed into the very substance of him who eats them; and this our Lord makes the model of that union which subsists between himself and genuine believers. He lives in them, and they in him; for they are made partakers of the Divine nature: 2 Peter 1:4. To this verse the following addition is made in the Codex Bezae, three copies of the Itala, and Victorinus. After these words-dwelleth in me, and I in him, they add, as the Father in me, and I in the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, that unless

John 7:38 — indwelling Spirit, from the indwelling Christ. The Jews frequently compare the gifts and influences of the Holy Spirit to water in general-to rain, fountains, wells, rivers, c., c. The Scriptures abound in this metaphor. Psalms 36:8, Psalms 36:9; Isaiah 44:3; Isaiah 44:4; Joel 2:23.